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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
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Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
RAI FILM
Login
Facebook
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Twitter
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
Menu
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
Login
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Films
15 Films
Region
“Southern Africa”
x
Country of production
“United Kingdom”
x
films with a digital version
2
short films
6
Region
South America
1
Southern Africa
15
x
Country
Angola
1
Botswana
7
Brazil
1
Lesotho
1
Malawi
1
Namibia
1
South Africa
3
not set
1
Keywords
Children / Young people
2
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
2
Death
1
Development projects
1
Ethnofiction
1
Family / Kinship
2
Festivals / Carnival
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Health / Health care / Healing
4
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Inter-religious relations
1
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
2
Love
2
Marriage
2
Material Culture
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Possession
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
7
Reproduction (biology)
2
Ritual
3
Socioeconomic conditions
2
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
1
Urban
2
Directors
Assunção, Matthias Röhrig
1
Dettmann, Christine
1
Elliot, Dominic
1
Greenwood, Rachel
1
Griggs, David
1
Huysmans, Carla
1
Longinotto, Kim
1
Namondwe, Charles
1
Pakleppa, Richard
1
Robinson, Paul
1
Werbner, Richard
7
Series
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
5
The Well-Being Quest in Botswana
5
not set
5
Country of production
Brazil
1
South Africa
1
United Kingdom
15
x
Year of production
1974
1
1991
1
2002
3
2003
1
2004
1
2006
1
2008
2
2009
1
2014
2
2016
1
2018
1
Film list
Body Games – Capoeira and Ancestry
2014
87
‘
Student
Directed by
Richard Pakleppa
Matthias Röhrig Assunção
Christine Dettmann
.
The film follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo
South America
Southern Africa
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Music / Ethnomusicology
Festivals / Carnival
Born Again
2003
19
‘
Directed by
Carla Huysmans
.
Carla last met Maureen Mulozi in 1998 in Lusaka, Zambia where they were colleagues and friends. Since then Maureen’s life has changed considerably: she became a ‘born again’ Christian and moved to
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Inter-religious relations
Breaking the Yard
2018
21
‘
Directed by
Richard Werbner
.
"Breaking-the-Yard" documents the court hearings and troubled affairs of a quarrelsome young couple, a stay-at-home farmer and his police constable, town-savvy wife. They claim to be still
Southern Africa
Family / Kinship
Gender Role and Identity
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Love
Marriage
Burying Hallelujah
2014
51
‘
Directed by
Richard Werbner
.
Hallelujah, a ‘bush mechanic’ turned archbishop, gets the funeral he deserves, one of the very biggest in Botswana’s railway town, Palapye. Many churches come together, their robes, splendid, their
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Death
Caught in Between
2016
56
‘
Directed by
Richard Werbner
.
The focus is on a leading village elder, John Lelatlhego, a retired Human Resources administrator trained in settling disputes in the South African mines. John gets entangled in the long troubled
Southern Africa
Family / Kinship
Gender Role and Identity
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Love
Marriage
Encountering Eloyi
2008
56
‘
Directed by
Richard Werbner
.
Of all the faith-healing churches in Botswana, Eloyi is the most controversial. Sensational stories in newspapers and on television have made Eloyi notorious for so-called witch-busting and for
Southern Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Ritual
Religion / Belief / Faith
Reproduction (biology)
Gule Wamkulu: The Great Dance
1991
37
‘
Directed by
Charles Namondwe
.
Performed by the Chewa secret societies, Gule Wamkulu is a form of masked dance which takes place at male initiation ceremonies, funerals, and other major celebrations. Acting as a medium between the
Southern Africa
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Ritual
Heal the Whole Man
1974
50
‘
Directed by
Paul Robinson
.
The ‘Barolong boo Ratshidi’ are one of the group of Tswana peoples, who together form a culturally homogeneous population of over two million. The Barolong themselves number about 75’000 and
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Health / Health care / Healing
Holy Hustlers
2009
53
‘
Directed by
Richard Werbner
.
Charismatic, street-wise young men, living in Botswana’s capital, command the prophetic domain in Eloyi, their Apostolic faith-healing church, at a time of escalating crisis. Bitter, sinful
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Urban
Possession
Native
2002
29
‘
Directed by
Rachel Greenwood
.
Through his clothing, a young South African fashion designer of mixed race urges freedom and unity in post-apartheid South Africa. His message is reaching not only his fellow South Africans, but also
Southern Africa
Collective / Community identity
Material Culture
The Ragged Ones
2002
30
‘
Directed by
David Griggs
.
The Basotho live in Lesotho, a kingdom of high mountains surrounded by South Africa. Afflicted by famine, poverty and AIDS, they carry on making a science out of their witchcraft beliefs.
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Socioeconomic conditions
Rough Aunties
2008
103
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
.
Jackie, Mildred, Eureka and Thuli are the women behind Bobbi Bear, a nonprofit organization based in Durban, South Africa, that counsels sexually abused children and works to bring their abusers to
Southern Africa
Socioeconomic conditions
Children / Young people
Development projects
Shade Seekers and The Mixer
2006
60
‘
Directed by
Richard Werbner
.
Set in Moremi village within Botswana’s awesome Tswapong hills, the film makes village elders self-consciously reflexive. The elders, including a controversial healer, view and discuss an earlier
Southern Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
Informant-researcher relationship
Street Fiction
2002
32
‘
Directed by
Dominic Elliot
.
Through combining their own dramatic reconstructions and real life observation, this film tells the story of children who run away from their homes in search of a better life on the streets of Blantyre, Malawi.
Southern Africa
Urban
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Children / Young people
Ethnofiction
Séance Reflections with Richard Werbner
2004
45
‘
Directed by
Richard Werbner
.
Njebe and Martha are a childless couple living in Botswana’s capital. Seeking to recover their well-being, they consult a charismatic diviner and healer, in Njebe’s old village, Moremi. They
Southern Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Ritual
Reproduction (biology)